Porsche Pajun gets green light

Porsche is determined to approve the Pajun project after more than a year of research and debate, company insiders told Autocar.

The Pajun, a sub-Panamera model, would rival the BMW 5-Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class. If the Pajun gets board approval, it will arrive on the market no sooner than in 2016, with Porsche planning to sell 200,000 units a year by 2018. Recently, Porsche’s design boss Michael Mauer said a road car smaller than the Panamera was a possibility.

The Pajun is expected to be a five-door fastback, just like the Panamera, but a sportwagon version is also considered. The series may also spawn a two-door coupe later. The Pajun, whose name derives from Panamera Junior, will be built on VW Group’s next-generation MSB platform, a rear-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive architecture that will be used by the next-generation Panamera and all future Bentleys.

The Pajun would mark Porsche’s entry to a mainstream market segment, the premium E-segment dominated by Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. This market promises substantial profit margins, which is why Maserati will also exploit it with the new Ghibli. The BMW 5-Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Audi A6 account for about 70 percent of global sales in the sector.